Eugeniusz MARKOWSKI (1912-2007), Sabinki 4, 1989

oil, canvas; 100 x 92 cm;
signed and described at right edge, bottom: WARSAW E. MARKOWSKI;
described on the reverse, on the painter's loom: WARSAW "SABINKI 4KOL"
1989.
Compare Zbigniew Taranienko, Eugeniusz Markowski, Warsaw 2005,
pp. 55 and 119.
PROVENANCE:
- Purchase directly from the artist's heirs;
- Private collection, Warsaw.

Eugeniusz Markowski's paintings are associated with the trend of new figuration
due to its uninhibited, "wild" form of artistic expression.
The artist depicts simplified, zoomorphic figures using
intense, pure colors that give expressive expression to often
hieratic compositions, barely fitting within the framework of the canvas.
In the artist's works one can look for archetypes and symbolic or
moralizing and critical overtones, at the same time generalized to the
primordial needs or characteristics of the human race. Parts of Markowski's compositions
are accompanied by literary quotations included in the margins of the paintings,
constituting a commentary to what is depicted by the artist.
A painter, he graduated from the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts in 1938, but
initially devoted himself to a career as a diplomat and journalist. He returned to Poland
in 1955 and only then began to paint. Eugeniusz Markowski created
series of paintings with analogous titles but different numbers. Many times
he elaborated on the theme that was bothering him.